Medical cannabis

Med­i­c­i­nal cannabis prod­ucts use the cannabis plant to treat phys­i­cal and psy­cholog­i­cal con­di­tions. Cannabis con­tains chem­i­cals called cannabi­noids. Cannabinoids act on re­cep­tors in the En­do­cannabi­noid Sys­tem to pro­duce ef­fects in the body. The main cannabi­noids in med­i­c­i­nal cannabis are Δ 9-tetrahy­dro­cannabi­nol (THC) and cannabid­i­ol (CBD).

Med­i­c­i­nal cannabis con­tains known quan­ti­ties of THC and CBD, com­plies with phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal man­u­fac­tur­ing stan­dards and is pro­duced with the in­ten­tion of treat­ing med­ical con­di­tions or symp­toms.Can­dor uses the term med­i­c­i­nal cannabis. Vari­a­tions in­clude cannabis med­icines, cannabi­noids, cannabis-based prod­ucts (CBP) and med­ical mar­i­jua­na.

In or­der to be el­i­gi­ble for med­i­c­i­nal cannabis you must have a health con­di­tion where stan­dard ap­proved treat­ments have not worked for you, or they have produced un­ac­cept­able side ef­fects. Treatments may include medications, physical therapies (such as physiotherapy, massage, exercise, acupuncture or TENS), surgical management or psychological therapies.

To date over 130 con­di­tions have been ac­cept­ed for treat­ment with med­i­c­i­nal cannabis. Please note that be­ing el­i­gi­ble for med­i­c­i­nal cannabis does not mean it is the right choice for you. Pre­scrip­tions are at the dis­cre­tion of the doc­tor.

Maybe. Each situation is assessed individually. Medicinal cannabis is not intended as a first line treatment and should only be considered when other reasonable treatment options have been trialled or are unsuitable. Your doctor may suggest trialling other suitable treatments prior to medicinal cannabis if appropriate.

The more information you can provide us on what you have tried, how long you tried it and why it was ineffective or unsuitable, the more likely a TGA application will be accepted.

There are a num­ber of forms of cannabis including oils, tablets, sprays and flower. Med­i­c­i­nal cannabis may be in­gest­ed or va­por­ised de­pend­ing on the pre­scrip­tion. Your doctor will dis­cuss op­tions with you in your con­sul­ta­tion.

Since 2016 med­i­c­i­nal cannabis has been le­gal with a valid pre­scrip­tion.

We do not recommend smoking medicinal cannabis. Smoking it in­creas­es the risk of health con­di­tions in­clud­ing can­cer, stroke and heart dis­ease. It is also dif­fi­cult to en­sure cor­rect dos­ing of med­i­c­i­nal cannabis when smoked. If your doctor prescribes the cannabis flower we recommend using a vape as your delivery system.

CBD does not have psy­choac­tive ef­fects and will not pro­duce a ‘high’. THC can have psy­choac­tive ef­fects. Each per­son re­acts dif­fer­ent­ly and some may ex­pe­rience these ef­fects at low­er dos­es how­ev­er in gen­er­al, the high­er the dose the more like­ly some­one is to ex­pe­ri­ence eu­pho­ria, con­fu­sion or oth­er psy­choac­tive ef­fects. The goal is to find the most ef­fec­tive dose with min­i­mal side ef­fects.

All med­ica­tions have the po­ten­tial to cause un­want­ed side ef­fects and med­i­c­i­nal cannabis is no ex­cep­tion. Side ef­fects may de­pend on the type, dose and form of cannabis you are pre­scribed.

The known side ef­fects from med­i­c­i­nal cannabis treat­ment in­clude, but are not lim­it­ed to; fa­tigue and se­da­tion, dizzi­ness, con­fu­sion, nau­sea and vom­it­ing, fever, de­creased or in­creased ap­petite, dry mouth, and di­ar­rhoea. Prod­ucts high in THC have been as­so­ci­at­ed with feel­ing ‘high’ or feel­ing dis­sat­is­fied, de­pres­sion, con­fusion, hal­lu­ci­na­tions, para­noid delu­sions, psy­chosis, and cog­ni­tive dis­tor­tion (hav­ing thoughts that are not true).

Med­i­c­i­nal cannabis side ef­fects are com­mon­ly dose-de­pen­dent, so it’s im­portant to fol­low the dos­ing rec­om­men­da­tions.

Med­i­c­i­nal cannabis should only used un­der med­ical ad­vice be­cause it may inter­act with oth­er med­i­cines or cause side ef­fects.

If you have any side ef­fects or con­cerns through­out the du­ra­tion of your treatment course, please con­sult with your regular GP or your Can­dor GP. If you are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing se­ri­ous or con­cern­ing side ef­fects please seek ur­gent help or call 000. Can­dor is un­able to of­fer emer­gency as­sistance.

Medicinal cannabis is not rec­om­mend­ed for patients who:

• Are pregnant or lactating
• Have a history of psychosis
• Have a personal or family history or schizophrenia
• Have a serious cardiac or heart condition
• Have a history of drug abuse or dependence

Some other factors may also impact your suitability for medicinal cannabis. For example, if you take a medication that is known to have negative interactions with it.

Our ini­tial con­sult is $98. Fol­low up con­sults are $59. These fees in­clude con­sul­ta­tion with our doc­tors as well as the com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion of all permits and approvals.

Med­i­c­i­nal cannabis costs de­pend on the pre­scrip­tion in­clud­ing type of product, strength and dosage. Cannabis products are shipped by our partner pharmacy at standard pharmacy pricing. Product prices generally start from $2 a day. Your doctor will discuss your options with you.

At Candor we are agnostic with our Medicinal Cannabis prescribing. This means our doctors will work with you to find the right treatments - we don't preference one company over another.

Most cannabis prod­ucts in Aus­tralia are ‘un­ap­proved’ mean­ing they haven’t been as­sessed by the Ther­a­peu­tic Goods Admin­is­tra­tion (TGA). The TGA re­quires cannabis pre­scrip­tions to be ap­proved be­fore they can be pre­scribed. Doc­tors can ap­ply un­der Spe­cial Ac­cess Schemes to get ap­proval for each pre­scrip­tion.

Our Can­dor doc­tors han­dle all as­pects of ap­provals and pre­scrip­tions. This is in­clud­ed in your con­sul­ta­tion fee.

Your Can­dor doc­tor will ap­ply for ap­proval once your con­sult is com­plete (in­cluding any fol­low up ques­tions). The approvals process can take up to 5 days. The phar­ma­cy then needs to or­der and dis­pense your med­ica­tion. We sug­gest allowing 2 weeks from your con­sul­ta­tion to re­ceiv­ing your med­ica­tion.

Please note providing us with a referral or health summary can help fast track your application. You can upload this after your consultation is complete.

No. Just like any oth­er treat­ment, our doc­tors need to as­sess how safe and ap­propri­ate it is for you. Pre­scrip­tion plans are at the doc­tors dis­cre­tion.

While it is not mandatory for all patients, having a referral or health summary also helps make the approval process quicker and easier.

Your health is the most im­por­tant thing. There are many med­ica­tions that can in­ter­act with med­i­c­i­nal cannabis so an accu­rate health sum­ma­ry or re­fer­ral that con­tains your med­ical con­di­tions and med­ica­tions helps your doctor consider which treatments are suitable for you.

If your Candor GP feels that a referral or health summary is necessary in your particular situation you will need to organsie one before they can prescribe treatment.

No. Candor encourages all our patients to have a regular GP, especially those using medicinal cannabis. Cannabis can interact with certain medications. If you are taking any of these medications your regular GP can adjust the dosage as required. You may also require blood tests during your treatment that your regular GP can help organise and monitor.

We will provide you with a let­ter af­ter each con­sult de­tail­ing your pre­scrip­tion plans and their possible side ef­fects. We recommend taking this letter to your regular GP so that they are aware of your treatment.

The use of prod­ucts con­tain­ing THC may im­pair­ mental alert­ness and phys­i­cal co­or­di­na­tion, de­creasing your abil­i­ty to perform some tasks. You should avoid driving when us­ing med­ic­i­nal cannabis, in par­tic­u­lar THC.

Can­dor rec­om­mends check­ing your state or ter­ri­to­ry laws with re­gards to driving and cannabis use. Depending on where you live it may be il­le­gal to drive with any amount of med­i­c­i­nal cannabis in your sys­tem, even if you have a valid
pre­scrip­tion.

Can­dor rec­om­mends check­ing your state or ter­ri­to­ry laws regarding trav­eling with medicinal cannabis. In­ternational laws may dif­fer from lo­cal laws. Hav­ing a pre­scription for med­i­c­i­nal cannabis does not necessarily en­ti­tle you to trav­el with cannabis.

No. You cannot share your cannabis treat­ment with any­one else, even if they have the same con­di­tion or symp­toms as you. Every­one re­acts dif­fer­ent­ly and your pre­scrip­tion is tai­lored to you.

Wait un­til you are due to take your next dose. Don’t dou­ble up on your intake as this will increase your risk of side ef­fects.

No. At this stage Medicare does not cover any costs for con­sul­ta­tions or pre­scriptions.

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Dur­ing the ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion you will be re­quired to an­swer a num­ber of questions via an on­line form. We require complete transparency and as much information as you can provide to help ensure safe and appropriate treatment. You will also have the opportunity to upload a re­fer­ral or health sum­ma­ry.

Your form will be re­viewed by your Can­dor doc­tor who will re­spond in our mes­sag­ing app to ask any fur­ther ques­tions and de­vel­op a treat­ment plan. Your doc­tor will then ap­ply for TGA ap­proval. Once approval is re­ceived you will be able to purchase your treatment plan and our partner pharmacy will ship your medicinal cannabis products to you.

Your Candor doc­tor will generally re­quire a fol­low up 2 weeks and 6 weeks after the first con­sult. After that your consults will likely be based on how frequently you need repeat prescriptions. You can request additional follow ups if needed.

Follow up consultations are important to assess your response to medicinal cannabis and help find the correct treatment for you. Failure to attend follow up consultations may result in further prescriptions being declined.

Absolutely. Let us know your preferred pharmacies details and we'll co-ordinate with them to get your prescription ready for pick up. Please note, an additional $10 admin fee applies for this option. This is to cover the time it takes for your Candor GP to liaise with your selected pharmacy and the postage cost to send your paperwork to them.

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